Father of the Bride
by SabreDae
Summary: "Does your father know about this?" Kate goes to have THAT conversation. 6x23 insert because we all know Jim should have been in the episode. Three-shot.
1. Already

**A/N: I didn't plan on doing a post finale fic (again) but I was talking with **_**alwayscastle2 **_**about how I wished Jim had been in the episode, so here we are… It just took me a lot longer than expected to getting round to posting this.**

* * *

"_Rogan O'Leary?!" Martha questioned, "Well who is Rogan O'Leary?"_

"_A guy she met freshman year at Stanford," Rick answered while Kate hid her face in shame. _

"_I think I'm gonna be sick," she finally muttered, refusing to raise her head from where it rested on her hands, staring at the ground with her elbows propped on her knees. _

"_And you married him?" _

"_Not really," she answered Alexis, desperate to point out that at no point during her drunken night in Vegas or her hangover the next morning did she think that a drive-thru chapel would provide legally binding marriage certification. _

"_Except she did," Castle added, explaining for his mother and daughter's benefit exactly how his fiancée had come to be someone else's wife. _

"_Yeah, I did but I never thought that it was gonna be for real. And I broke up with the guy a couple of weeks later when I found out he was a compulsive liar, degenerate and a thief." The more they talked about it, the more embarrassing it became. She, a detective of all people, married a liar and a criminal._

"_Yes but before you tied the knot," Rick said, patting her leg almost patronisingly as he reminded her of the one time he'd asked whether she'd ever been married. "And here I thought you were a one and done kind of girl." _

_Before she could pinch his leg in retaliation for that comment, Martha asked, "Does your father know about this?"_

"_I really am gonna be sick." _

* * *

"Oh God!" Kate exclaimed as she grabbed the last of her things and organised them in her travel suitcase, "What am I going to tell my dad? How am I supposed to explain this, he's going to be so ashamed! Hell, _I'm _ashamed." She was so keen to avoid having to tell her father that she was actually contemplating not stopping at his apartment on her way out to Willow Creek.

"Kate, relax," Rick said, pulling his fiancée down into his lap and folding his arms around her. "You were young and you were drunk. You made a mistake. Your father's going to understand."

"But what if he doesn't, Castle?"

"Kate, he loves you. He'll understand," he assured her, resting his chin on her shoulder before turning his head to press a kiss to her neck.

Although he would be disappointed, he was sure, if Alexis came to him with news of that kind; at the end of the day she was his daughter, his flesh and blood, and he would always forgive her. Ignoring how hypocritical it would be of him, considering his two failed marriages and how many similar mistakes he'd made during his own college years, he would hardly be a good parent if he didn't. Every father wanted to believe that their daughters would stay their little girls forever. Jim Beckett, he was sure, was already long used to the fact that Kate had long ago grown up. There was a crucial difference between what Kate's teenage years had been like and his own responsible daughter. Perhaps that would lessen the blow for Jim. Rick didn't know the full extent of Kate's rebellious wild child phase, but he was sure that her father would be all the more forgiving of a mistake made then in the aftermath of her mother's death since she had matured and changed so much since.

She tried to keep those words in mind as she pulled up outside her father's place a half hour later, asking her driver to wait around until she was done. Hopefully, Rick would be right and her father would be filled with nothing but reassurances and sympathy.

She'd let him know she was coming, but she still had to wait a moment to be let in.

"What calls for this visit then, Katiebug?" Jim Beckett asked as he opened wide his door and allowed his daughter into his home. "I thought you'd be with Rick going over the final plans and relaxing since you don't have to work."

"I've got some news," she finally managed to say, her shaky voice drawing her father's attention to her face and the lip she was chewing.

"Sit down, sit down," her father insisted, fussing to fix her a drink as she took off her coat and folded the leather over the back of his armchair before she perched on the edge of the seat, anxious to get it over with. Without asking, he began making her a cup of tea, smiling reassuringly as he secured her hands around it without noticing her look of confusion. Her father knew she was a coffee drinker – they both were. "So, how long have you known?"

"I just found out today," Kate answered absently, not really focusing on the fact that her father had yet to actually ask her what her news was. "I can hardly believe it myself. This is- Of all the things I planned for my life, this was never on the list. These few days before the wedding were supposed to be filled with excitement and longing, not stress."

"Rick's not supportive?" Jim asked in confusion, prompting his daughter to realise that clearly she and her father were not on the same page here. Why would her future husband be supportive of her previous marriage?

"What, Dad? What are you talking about- Oh my God, you don't think-"

"Well, aren't you?" Jim asked, not quite understanding her reaction. There was nothing shameful about falling pregnant out of wedlock any more.

"No! I'm n-No!"

"Well, what's this news then? I just assumed that you and Rick were expecting. It wouldn't be surprising, you know. You've been living together for a few months now and your old man is under no allusions that you don't share the same bed-"

"-Dad, please stop," Kate requested, looking away to keep from flushing. "I'm _not _pregnant. I'm…" She took a breath before trying again, finding that she could only whisper the words. "I'm already married."

Her father laughed, actually laughed, before he took in her serious expression.

"I'm married, Dad."

There was a terse silence as Jim blinked in shock before shifting forwards in his chair, clasping his hands together as he hunched over his knees.

"I'm assuming it's not Rick we're talking about?"

Kate shook her head, staring at the ground.

"How did this happen, Katie?" She flicked her gaze to his face, expecting to see his brow furrowed into hard, unforgiving lines but instead her father looked at her openly, eyes solemn and disappointed, but somehow still loving.

She sighed. "It was when I was at Stanford and I went out to Vegas with my boyfriend at the time. It was a mistake. I-we were drunk, and apparently we thought it would be a good idea to go to a drive-thru chapel," she answered, imploring him to understand. "I had no idea it was real until Rick and I went to get our marriage license sorted." The words came out in a rush, the bare minimum of information that she hoped would help him understand. She didn't think detailing exactly how much she had drunk – under-age – and exactly what kind of person her boyfriend had been would be beneficial to the situation.

Jim steepled his fingers for a moment, making Kate feel more worried than ever. Finally though, he looked back across at her and said, "So what are you going to do?"

"Wait, you're not mad? Or disappointed? What about the sanctity of marriage? And the fact that I got married when I was twenty?"

"Do you want me to be mad at you?"

"Well, no-"

"-Good, because there's no use in being mad. We have to focus on how you're going to get out of this mess. So what are you and Rick going to do? You can't go ahead with the wedding if you're-"

"-Still married, I know," Kate said, finishing her father's sentence, relaxing back into her seat and leaving her untouched cup of tea on the coffee table. "Rick's going to keep a handle on things here while I go and track my…husband down and get him to sign the divorce papers."

Jim nodded, pleased that he and Johanna had instilled in Kate a sense of pragmatism. He wasn't sure it would be easy for her to find her way out of this mess, but at least she wasn't sitting around doing nothing. Before she left, needing to get out onto the road and get divorced, he squeezed her hand and told her he'd see her at the wedding.

* * *

"Honestly it went better than I thought it would," she told Rick from the backseat of her car. "He wasn't angry at all."

"I tol-"

"-Seriously?" she interrupted. "You're going to say I told you so?!"

"Well, I did tell you so," he pointed out, not missing her groan in response. "So how far away are you from Willow Creek?"

"Probably about ten minutes. Babe, I just got a text from Ryan. I'm gonna have to go. I love you."

* * *

**A/N: I was originally going to have this as one whole chapter before I really thought things through and started writing it. I thought, however, that it made more sense to have a split. Let me know what you think. Thanks go to alwayscastle2 for reading this through for me a while back.**


	2. Again

**A/N: Chapter two up in what must be record time for me! Enjoy it, guys!**

* * *

Jim Beckett checked through his bag once more before zipping it shut and checking the time on his watch. Any minute, he expected the arrival of his daughter's soon-to-be mother-in-law. Although it had been quite some time since he'd first met Martha Rodgers, he was yet to believe he was actually used to her vibrant personality and her way of flying into a room, instantly commanding attention. Still, their journey to Rick's home in the Hamptons was definitely not going to be boring.

Sure enough, he'd only just dropped his bag down by the door when someone out on the street pressed the buzzer for his apartment.

"Hello?" he was pretty certain that it would be Martha and Alexis picking him up but it wouldn't hurt to check before he either allowed them in the building or went down to meet them himself.

"It's Alexis, Jim," Richard's daughter replied, voice reverberating metallically out of the speaker mechanism just beside his front door.

"Be right there," he promised, picking up his holdall again, along with a rectangular white box and the bag containing his pressed tuxedo before opening the door and stepping into the hallway. It was an effort to juggle his things around enough to free up one hand to lock the door, but once he managed it, it was just a few steps to the lift, which was luckily vacant just a floor above him and arrived momentarily to carry him down to the ground level of his apartment building.

He spotted Martha and Alexis straight away before he even exited the building. Their vibrant red hair was easily visible, deeper in colour in the spring sunlight.

"Let me take that for you, Jim," Martha said the instant he joined them on the street. Before he could protest, she had closed on of her hands around his holdall and eased it from his grip, leading the way to the car they were taking to Rick's Hamptons house – a flashy, sleek black thing that he wasn't sure he trusted either Martha or Alexis to safely drive. Luckily, as he slid into the back seat, he watched Martha seat herself in the passenger seat and noticed that the driver's side was already occupied by a man in black suit.

"Dad's car service," Alexis explained quietly at his slightly bemused look.

* * *

He watched mainly as Alexis directed people in the back garden that overlooked and backed onto the sea to arrange the seats and tie flowers around the arch Rick and Kate would stand and give their vows in front of. Although it wasn't their original venue, he thought that the garden was a lovely stand-in.

His suit hung off the top of the wardrobe in one of the house's rooms, just waiting for him to change into. Meanwhile the white box, he'd carefully taken to the room Alexis had told him Kate would be using to get ready once she returned from getting her old husband to sign the much needed divorce papers. He'd set it on the bed and caressed it lightly with fingers before easing off the lid and gazing at the bodice of his deceased wife's wedding dress. As he fingered the lace, its texture brought memories from the first time he'd felt it, when he and Johanna had had their first dance, and his hands had been comfortably placed on her waist as he wrapped his arms around her, the two of them slowly twirling in circles.

Knowing that Johanna wouldn't be there that afternoon to watch him walk Katie down the aisle and place her hand within Rick's filled him with a crushing grief, the likes of which he didn't think he'd felt since the funeral.

If Martha hadn't come to find him, requesting his help covering the seats, he probably would have sat on the bed and held onto the material, sobbing quietly over the life stolen from him. But, Martha had come, and so there he was outside covering chairs to stop leaves and dirt – or some damned bird crap – marring the pristine white cushions. Once the job was done, he stood off to the side, enjoying the sunshine on his face and arms as people milled about to get everything set up.

* * *

Kate arrived in a happy flurry, smiling brightly before she even caught sight of him and wrapped him in a warm hug.

"Hi, Dad," she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Katiebug," he replied with a grin just as big as hers. Seeing her happy, especially after how downtrodden finding out she'd been married since she was twenty had made her, put him in high spirits too. He didn't have to ask to know that she must have been able to sort her paperwork with Rogan O'Leary. Nothing else but the knowledge that she was going to be able to marry Richard Castle would have put her in such a good mood. "Everything good?"

"Perfect, Daddy," Kate answered, beaming and apparently entirely unconcerned by the fact that she'd just called her father daddy despite being thirty six and not having referred to Jim in such a way for at least twenty years. "I need to go and get ready." Pulling out of her embrace, Kate flicked her eyes back to her father's to see his bemusement before skipping up the stairs and into the master bedroom.

He didn't take half as long as to get ready as his daughter did, getting into that dress and doing her hair and makeup, but he was still dressed in his suit and polished shoes, raring to go long before he needed to be. Leaving the peace of one of the guest rooms, Jim traversed the hallway, pausing to look into each doorway – it was a large house, Rick had (a mansion, really, if they were being honest) and he couldn't quite remember exactly where the master bedroom he'd left the wedding dress in. Finally he found it though, passing Martha in the hallway and entering the room to the sound of Kate sounding like she was positively buzzing with happiness as she spoke with Rick on the phone.

"Hey, Lover."

Jim smiled softly at the sight of her.

She looked like Johanna, though of course her hair was quite a few shades lighter. Her eyes and her face shape, her build, everything was incredibly reminiscent of his beloved wife.

She was stunning, simply radiant. If he didn't know better, he'd actually have thought it looked like she had a pregnancy glow. With a baby out of the question though, he knew it was her joy for this day rather than hormones that had her shining. How he had managed to help create and raise such a beautiful daughter, inside and out, was beyond him.

He loitered in the doorway, trying not to intrude on her quiet moment with Rick and waiting until she was done speaking with him on the phone before he took a few quiet steps into room.

"What do you think?" she asked a little breathlessly, fussing with the skirt on either side of her thighs, brushing down the lace before she raised her eyes to him.

"You looked wonderful, so much like your mother."

Her eyes watered at that and she laughed softly as she hurried to wipe away any and all moisture leaking from her eyes before it could spoil her makeup. "Don't make me cry, Dad."

He chuckled with her for a moment before asking the question he still remembered being asked on his own wedding day. "Nervous?"

"Yes and no." She picked up a folded piece of paper from the dresser that had seemingly been turned into a vanity counter, every inch of it covered with some kind of cosmetic powder or paste, lipsticks lined up in front of nail varnish and eye liner and a variety of things Jim couldn't even identify. She flipped the page open and scanned the words again, trying to commit the contents to memory. "I can't wait for it to start, to marry him, but I'm more than anxious about my vows..."

Jim nodded understandingly. "Standing in the church waiting for your mother and grandfather to appear was the longest wait of my life, and I was practically nauseous at the thought of speaking in front of everyone, but I stopped worrying the second the music started and I turned around to watch your mother start her walk down the aisle. You'll do fine, Katie," he promised, stepping forward to squeeze her hand reassuringly before seating himself in the seat in front of the window.

While they waited for Rick to arrive so the ceremony could begin, Kate applied the finishing touches to her hair, spraying it generously with lacquer to ensure it all stayed in place.

"I can't believe you thought I was pregnant," she muttered once she was done, using the mirror to look at him.

"Wishful thinking?" Jim suggested, shrugging unapologetically. So what if a small part of him wanted his daughter to get a move on in the family department? He wasn't getting any younger. He'd appreciate the chance to have a grandchild while he still had enough strength and energy to hoist the kid off the ground into a bear hug or teach the kid to play baseball.

Kate stared at him then, mouth opening and closing once or twice before she found words to reply.

* * *

**A/N: So we all know what's going to happen next…**


	3. Almost

**A/N: This is the last chapter. Thank you anyone who's read this, particularly if you've taken the time to review, and especially since I posted this so long after the finale aired without it being a fix-it fic or a speculation for season 7. I wasn't exactly sure anyone would be interested. **

**In advance, I'd like to apologise for the feels – I think I've probably made the ending even angst-ier. Sorry!**

* * *

Jim sat quietly, resisting the urge to check his watch again – they all knew that Rick was running more than late. An hour had gone by slowly, the first half of which had been spent with Kate nervously laughing and telling them that Rick was probably going for dramatics. It had soon became clear that even traffic couldn't have delayed him so severely and their worries stewed, simmering and building as more unmarked time progressed for they were too scared to actually look at their watches now.

Around him, Lanie, Martha and Alexis questioned the groom's absence, seemingly oblivious to how it only contributed to his daughter's stress.

"It's been an hour already and the natives down there are getting restless," Lanie complained, turning away from the window and the sight of the guests all wandering around Richard Castle's garden, having given up remaining in their allocated seats long ago. In the back of her mind, Lanie cursed Castle for causing a hold up – there had been enough difficulties getting the wedding off the ground without him fooling around and running late too.

"They'll be fine," Jim said quietly, more worried about Kate than the whereabouts of the wedding guests.

"Where do you think he is?" Martha asked, completely out of ideas. They'd ruled out traffic jams, the possibility of Rick running into an old friend and everything they could think of up to and including alien abduction. There was just no explanation, no reason for Rick to leave his bride – the woman he had fought so hard and so long for – at the altar.

"I don't know," Kate replied, unable to stay seated with the others who, despite their good intentions, were making the situation worse. "When I spoke to him last, he said he was less than twenty minutes away." Without looking back, Kate took a few steps, hoping to have a shred of privacy as she dialled Rick's number, praying that he would pick up this time.

At first she'd held off on calling, knowing that he was driving, that he had probably just underestimated how long it would take him to reach the house, that he was probably too eager and had made some sort of mistake. As the others repeatedly suggested giving him a call – just to check up on him – though, she'd given in only to receive her fiancé's voicemail.

It rang once.

"_This is Richard Castle."_

She knew immediately from the slight echo and the tin-like quality of his voice that it was just the recorded message she was hearing – the same one she'd heard half an hour ago. She let it go on though, hearing the whole thing before she hung up.

"_Leave me a message."_

"Straight to voicemail," Kate told them, refusing to meet any of their eyes as she turned back around. Even without the eye contact, her stress was palpable to the room's other occupants, none of whom could hardly believe the turnaround from the happiness that had been physically bubbling out of her, refusing to be contained, just an hour previously.

Jim shared a discreet look with Martha, who shook her head – absolutely clueless about what was going on. If this was some elaborate plan of Rick's, none of them were in on it. Even his mother wasn't that good an actress.

Kate's phone trilled in the anxious atmosphere, and as Jim looked up, the hope on Alexis and Martha's faces was clear to see. It obviously wasn't Richard though.

She answered with a simple hello, continuing to say, "Yes, this is she," as whoever was on the other end of the line asked whether they were speaking to Katherine Beckett. Jim's heart sank. In the pit of his stomach, something dark and despairing began to fester within him, and he was on his feet before he really knew what he was doing, trailing his daughter as her face turned ashen and she dashed from the room without a word, her phone falling from sensationless fingers.

"_Hello? Ms Beckett? Are you there?"_

Martha picked up the phone with shaking hands, knowing and fearing what to expect.

* * *

"Katie!" Jim called, running as fast as he could on his old legs. There was no reaction from his daughter as she hurried out of the front door ahead of him. She didn't look back, she didn't turn, she didn't falter. Honestly, he didn't think she'd heard him at all.

He could only watch – too slow – as she dived into the back of the wedding car and ordered the driver to start driving. It didn't stop him from getting into one of the other cars, however, and thanking his lucky stars that its owner was naïve enough to leave the keys tucked in the sun visor. He drove as though possessed, speeding and overtaking anybody and everybody in the way, until he finally spotted the white Rolls Royce and the flashing blue lights of two police vehicles beyond it. In the middle of the road stood Kate, the white of her dress a start contrast to the asphalt and the dark haze of smoke all around.

He shouted her name, rushing past the chauffer, standing by his open car door and gaping, and on towards her. Wrapping his arms around her shaking frame while she sobbed and struggled to breathe, hyperventilating either from panic or the bad oxygen supply, he dragged her backwards, ignoring her struggles as well as the sight of a car in flames in the roadside ditch.

"Let me go. What if he's in there?" she repeated, over and over again, inconsolable and irrational as she fought to get to the Mercedes.

There was nothing they could do but watch as the firemen tackled the blaze, hoses running full blast to extinguish the burning car. Until the flames had been put out, neither Jim nor his daughter would have any idea whether Rick had been inside, but that didn't stop Kate from believing he was still trapped.

In the commotion, neither of them noticed a second car pulling up to the scene, Javier emerging from the driver's side soon after Martha and Lanie piled out of the back. The first they knew about their appearance was Esposito appearing to help Jim tow Kate further back, behind the police tape that two officers were unfurling. The fight left Kate in a rush, leaving her drained and boneless, makeup ruined by the tears still steadily streaking down her face. The smoke had stained her dress enough that no-one voiced a complaint when she sank to the floor, kneeling on the hot asphalt.

She was almost catatonic. When Esposito and Lanie stooped in front of her, she stared right through them. When they spoke, they received no response. She didn't even seem to notice the small group of family and friends, picking her up and essentially carrying her to a car. When they got back to the house, Lanie stripped her of the wedding dress, entrusting it to Jenny to get it taken to a drycleaners for professional attention.

Unsure of what they should do, the ME and detective reluctantly stepped out of the master bedroom, leaving just Jim to watch over Kate as she stared into space, almost curled up in a foetal position.

It was disconcerting for Jim to see his daughter so withdrawn – it was a stark reminder of the days following Johanna's death that he had been sober enough to still remember, days the pair of them had spent side by side in silence, days he didn't want to see a repeat of. He opened his mouth only to find no words leaving his lips. A quiet sigh – unheard by Kate's ears – slipped from him as he tried to find something to say, contemplating what Johanna would do. He had no doubt that his darling wife would have known just the thing to tell their daughter, would have been able to give her hope.

Before he could say a word, the harsh quiet of the room was disturbed by the trilling of Kate's cell phone where it lay, carefully abandoned on the bedside table presumably by Martha or Alexis. His eyes flicked to Kate, but it was obvious from one glance that she wasn't going to reach out for the phone and answer, so Jim shifted to his feet and crossed the room to grab it himself. It took a moment to figure out how he was supposed to answer – whatever happened to simple buttons? – but eventually he got it and lifted the phone to his ear in time to hear a man on the other end of the line.

"_Hello? Ms Beckett?"_

"Sorry, she's currently…indisposed," Jim answered, replied, eyes flicking to Kate as he found a way to describe her condition. "I'm her father. Who am I speaking with?"

"_This is Chief Brady, Hamptons Police. I'm calling with information for Ms Beckett regarding her fiancé, Richard Castle?"_

"You can tell me, I'll pass the information along."

"_The firemen have just doused the fire and we've conducted a thorough search of Mr Castle's vehicle."_

"And?"

"_Mr Castle was _not _in the blaze. Our search of the surrounding area has not yielded any results so far, but of course we'll continue our efforts. Forensics will be going over the car soon and as soon as we know more, I'll be calling again."_

"Thank you," Jim murmured, staring at his daughter as he tried to work out whether the fact that they'd yet to find Rick was good or bad news.

"_No problem, Sir. Just doing the job." _There was a pause before Chief Brady spoke again. _"If you could pass my condolences along to Ms Beckett, I'd very much appreciate it. Mr Castle was a stand up member of the Hamptons community." _

The man's use of the past tense, his apparent lack of hope for finding Rick safe, was not lost on Jim, but he consented anyway before hanging up and turning his full attention to Kate. He tried everything to get her attention – calling her name, squatting so he was in her field of vision, stroking her hair, squeezing her hand – but nothing worked until he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook rather forcefully.

"Dad?" her voice cracked on the one word, fresh tears leaking from the corners of her eyes as she focused on him. She stumbled back out of his grip, almost tripping over the corner of the bed as she rounded it and made her way into the bathroom. He didn't follow, but when she didn't reappear, he poked his head around the door to find her sat in the middle of the floor with a bottle of champagne in her hands. She'd yet to take the cork out, but the sight still made his heart stop, fear spiking within him.

His hands were gentle but insistent as he took the bottle from her.

She didn't look up as she murmured, "Lanie gave me this earlier. It was supposed to be for after… We were supposed to be celebrating…"

Relief that she wasn't treading the same path he had flooded through him, but it was short-lived. Rick was still missing. The wedding was still not happening. Kate was still crying, not even bothering with angrily swiping away the tears like he was used to seeing her do.

"He wasn't in the car, Katie," Jim told her, getting down on the floor – albeit slowly – with her where he could wrap an arm around her shoulders and press a kiss to her head. Her beautiful curls were still carefully styled despite the mess her dress had become. "You can't give up on him yet."

"He said that you know, when all this turned to shit with Rogan and the fire and Ryan's tuxedo and the dress, he said that if we wanted the happy ending, if we wanted the fairytale, we had to keep fighting for it, we couldn't give up."

"He's a wise man, that fiancé of yours," Jim said, squeezing her shoulder as she sniffled, almost chuckling because her father knew just how outrageously ridiculous Rick could be. "You should listen to him every once in a while." She nodded, finally scrubbing her fingers under her eyes to wipe away the salt water. "He's not dead, Katie. We'll find him – you know we're all here for you. Lanie, Javier, Kevin, Martha, Alexis and I, we'll all help you, and we'll find him. Whatever's happened, we'll find him."

* * *

**A/N: So, there you have it… What I imagine might have happened had good old Jim been in For Better or For Worse. Thanks again for reading!**


End file.
